SnapVibe

From Norwegian death metal to K-pop, there’s a whole world of sounds out there – avoiding musical paralysis has never been easier

According to research by the music streaming service Deezer, around the age of 30 most of us stop discovering new music and listen to the same stuff over and over again. But there are ways to avoid this musical paralysis.

Go random

Where random music discovery could once mean crate-digging for obscure vinyl, today Spotify and YouTube can both ease and stunt exploration. Avoid endless variations of what you normally play by making unexpected choices to confuse the algorithms; you could try Norwegian death metal right after Chesney Hawkes.

Phone a friend

Delving into a pal’s collection – or asking them to make a playlist – can provide another source of new sounds. An older acquaintance may have rich musical knowledge, while a younger one can help with tricky, trendy genres. I recently borrowed a car and found Martha Wainwright’s brilliant debut lurking in the CD player.

Listen to foreign-language songs

Venturing beyond English and American staples can throw up unknown pleasures, from Gallic pop to Afrofunk; widening exposure to K-pop has helped the boyband BTS to storm the US charts.

Venture off piste

Eclectic festival line-ups and local or underground gigs can help experience unfamiliar music quickly, but you don’t even have to leave the house. Just turn off that favourite radio station and exit the comfort zone for the delights of the BBC Asian Network, say, or Rinse FM, to spend time with grime.

Research musical roots

Tracing an artist’s musical ancestry can be fascinating. For example, the 1975 listened to 80s pop and Brian Eno, and that snaking riff on the new single, Give Yourself a Try, derives from Joy Division’s (1979) Disorder.

Play an instrument

Learning to play is another gateway to musical adventures. Budding drummers may be exposed to Clyde “Funky Drummer” Stubblefield, while piano lessons can lead to tinkling along to Chopin – or Chas and Dave.

Try a genre you thought you hated

I loathed opera until I saw ETO’s touring production of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin and reached a whole new understanding: it sounded like a massive goth band.

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